Cinderella Was More Literal Than You Thought
by crazyanimelover326
Summary: So you'd think this would be the traditional Cinderella story. It's not. Mikan's the Cinderella but she's a geek, and a tomboy, and a maid. Then she talks to Natsume at the masquerade. She'll do anything to keep him from finding out her name.
1. Chapter 1

"We're finally back." Kitsuneme said, throwing himself on the couch.

"Yeah. Doesn't mean we'll get a break though." Mochu said.

"Yeah, we'll still have fangirls." Koko said. I sighed.

"We know how much you hate them, mate." Ruka said.

"Whatever. I'm used to them already." I said.

"That's the spirit, Natsume!" Koko said.

"Come on. Let's go pick our rooms. Andou should be here any second to fill us in on some stuff. We need to unpack anyway." I said. My friends and I all nodded. We make up a band called Crimson Abyss. I'm the lead singer. Natsume Hyuuga's the name, by the way. Ruka, my best friend, is the guitarist and backup singer. Kitsuneme, one of the two "twins" is the bass guitarist in the band. His "twin", Koko, is the drummer. We call them the twins, even though they are not related, because they think the same and act the same. Mochu is the dj and in some cases plays the keyboard. The Andou I spoke of before is the band manager. We're only sixteen and Andou is eighteen, but we made ourselves big really quickly. We had the looks and the talents so we didn't need much else to work with. Tomorrow we start school. It's not our first time in the school since we were born and raised in this town. But once we made it big, we had to do tours and stay in various places. We decided to take a break from that and came back here. We attended Alice Academy and are returning tomorrow. We can already imagine the scene. We come back and get swarmed by fangirls. End of story. I guess I should be unpacking though before Andou gets here. We're all living in one house together.

Next Day Mikan's POV

I woke up at six in the morning. Sure classes don't start until 8 o' clock but I have chores to do. I am the maid in this house anyway. Getting out of bed, I placed my ugly maid dress on over my pajamas. I got out of the shed, which is my bedroom, and walked into the main house. Putting on my slippers at the doorway, I walked to the kitchen. I began making breakfast for the three witches. It took me about an hour to make it because if it did not look like a 5 star meal they would make me do it over again and then, I would be late for school. Putting the three trays on a cart, I made my way to the elevator. I waited until it took me to the second floor. As I made my way down the long hallway, I stopped and opened all of the large curtains. Once arriving at the first witch's room, I picked up the first tray and brought it into her room. I opened the curtains once inside and pulled her sleep mask up from over her eyes.

"Good morning Koizumi-san." I said. I didn't really like greeting any of the witches but I had to, or out to the streets I would live. Leaving the tray on her bedside table, I left the room to repeat the process two more times. As soon as I was done, I took off my maid dress and ran to the Starbucks at the end of the corner.

"Morning Rika-san. You know the drill. Three decaf soy lattes please." I said. Since it was my routine to do this, Rika-san already had them set for me. I left the money on the counter and ran back to the house. I delivered a coffee to each witch's room while they were in the shower. Running back to my shed, I grabbed my uniform skirt and shirt and ran to the bathroom. I didn't really have time to take a shower in the morning so I always took them in the night. I brushed my teeth and did my business before getting dressed and putting on my shoes. I walked back to the main house. Standing in a line were the three witches. Shall I introduce them to you? Witch number one, my oldest step sister, Luna Koizumi. Witch number two, my other older step sister, Serah Koizumi. And the last witch, my step mother, Serina Koizumi. I hate all three of them but have to listen to what they tell me to do, or else I'll be homeless.

"Have a good day at school, Luna-hime, Serah-hime." I said with a bow towards both of them. I had to call them hime while in the house because they wanted to feel like princesses all the time.

"Have a good day at work, Serina-hime." I said, bowing towards her. I had to call her hime because she liked to feel as if she is still young. As if she ever was. They departed from my sight without another word, carrying their decaf soy lattes and walking into their limos. I ran back to my shed. I don't know why but the three witches make me tie my hair up in an ugly bun or pigtails and wear ugly glasses when going to school. And you know what happens if I don't listen. I have a messenger bag for a backpack. I took off my shoes and put on my rollerblades. I am not allowed to walk in the main house without a form of shoe because they don't want my filthy feet on their floor, and they most certainly don't want me rollerblading in there. I put on my helmet and off I went to school. I was faster than my step-sisters' limo because they had to stop at lights everything. I rollerbladed into the school and to my locker. My friends were already at their lockers beside mine. I put my rollerblades in my locker and put on my shoes that were in my bag.

"Morning guys." I said.

"Morning, Mikan." They all said with smiles on their faces, except for one, looking at me. Hotaru Imai, the one who didn't smile or greet me, and on the locker to my left, is my best friend. She is always shooting me with this gun thing she has. Though she is stoic all the time and shoots me with the baka gun she invented a lot, I know she truly cares for me. Next to Hotaru's locker is Nonoko Ogasawara's locker. She is smart and really into chemistry. She is sweet and independent and also one of the "twins" in our group. At the locker beside her is Misaki Harada. She is two years older than us and is like an older sister to me. She is really nice but if you mess with her, she can have you on the ground in seconds it's like there are ten of her when she's in combat. She taught me a few of her moves for self defense. On my right is Sumire Shoda. I call Sumire, Permy, because her hair is always permed. Permy tends to be really sassy and is a complete fashionista and fan girl. Though she is sassy and likes to make petty fights with everyone in the group, she really cares for us and wants the best for us. Cats and dogs have a strange liking to her. The locker next to hers is the other one of the"twins" I mentioned earlier, Anna Unemoniya. She is sweet as a button and could never harm a fly. She gives great advice when it comes down to hard times and she's a great chef. Anna and Nonoko are the twins because the complete each other's sentences, feel the same, and are like two peas in a pod. You barely ever see them separated. In fact, they have every class together. Next to Anna is the only boy in our group, Yuu Tobita. The boy is so sweet and shy with big round glasses. He tends to stutter sometimes and is really smart. He comes in second only to Hotaru in the class list. We call him Inchou sometimes because he is class president. Hotaru is vice- president but she doesn't like nicknames. While most of us are just invisible nerds to the school public, Hotaru is very pretty and blackmails people often, giving her the title of Ice Queen. All of my friends know about my maid life and try their best to help me through it. On our way to homeroom, which we all had together except Misaki, loud piercing screeches came from all the girls around.

"It's Crimson Abyss!" they all screamed running up to the entrance of the school. Me and my group of friends just continued walking to class. Once seated in our assigned benches I thought of the band in our school. Crimson Abyss. A group of boys that originally come from this town. They were all good looking but something about Natsume Hyuuga always grabbed my attention. I know exactly what it is. His eyes. His eyes, in every picture that I saw of him, they captivated me. They look as if they are staring straight at me. Analyzing everything I am. Right after that last thought, the bell rang and everybody filled in. Hotaru and Yuu shared a bench, with an empty seat to their left. Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire shared a bench. And I sat in a bench all by myself. Nobody wanted to share a bench with me, though that's perfectly fine. I don't need any more friends than I already have, and it gives me time to think to myself without people pestering me about how to do this and that every second, since nobody studies or bothers trying to learn how to do things. For example, every night I have to do witches one and two's homework. Narumi pranced into the room at this moment.

"Good morning, students!" he cheered. Nobody paid attention and nobody repeated the salutation. They were too busy gossiping about Crimson Abyss coming back to school here. They left for their careers at the end of elementary school, and they were still popular back then, but me and my friends were in a different class then.

"I guess you don't want to hear about the news about Crimson Abyss, then." Narumi said. Everybody halted their words and turned to the teacher.

"Boys, you can come in." he said. Natsume Hyuuga, Ruka Nogi, Kokoro Yome, Kitsuneme Ling, and Mochiage Okiyama walked into our classroom.

"The band will be your new classmates. I'm sure you already know their names so there will be no need for introductions and I will just seat them. Koko, Mochu, and Kistuneme in the empty bench in back. Natsume and Ruka next to Mikan. Mikan, please raise your hand." Narumi said. I knew that Narumi was a really nice teacher and all, but at the moment, I really wanted to choke him to rethink his decision. I raised my hand and everybody gasped.

"Why does she get to sit next to them? I'm going to be their wife! She's so ugly! That's not fair!" various girls complained. I ignored them and stare out the window.

"Now, now. It's my decision and today will be free period." Naru said before prancing out of the room. The band began to make their way to their seats. Before Hyuuga and Nogi could arrive at mine though, Luna and Serah ran up and glared at me.

"Don't you dare to talk to them or you're out of the house." Luna said.

"I wasn't planning on talking to them anyway. What would I see in a dumb boy band?" I said.

"Good that you know your place. And they're not a dumb boy band. They're not dumb at all. They're smart and hot." Serah said. I rolled my eyes and looked back to the window. It wasn't long before they were squealing at the people now sitting beside me.

Natsume's POV

A geek raised her hand. Ruka and I began walking towards our seat once the teacher pranced out of the room, but we saw two girls run over to the geek and begin muttering things to her. I don't know what the geek said but she muttered a reply and turned to the window. Ruka and I sat in our seats.

"Oh my gosh! Ruka, Natsume, we didn't know you were going to sit here! How are you? I'm sure you remember us. Luna and Serah Koizumi. Of course you wouldn't forget." Luna said.

"Who?" Ruka asked innocently. I heard the geek trying to stifle a laugh. It didn't seem to be caught by anybody else though. It must be because I'm right next to her.

"Luna and Serah Koizumi. Your first girlfriends." Serah said.

"We never had a girlfriend in our life. Especially not Natsume." Koko said, coming into the conversation.

"Oh. Well it's nice to meet you all." Luna said. The way they spoke was overly sweet, a tone many people take with us.

"It's not nice to meet you. You can leave now." I said. Their presence was obnoxious. My bandmates gathered around.

"I knew that the fangirls never leave us." Mochu said. I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation, but when the geek's face turned to our direction, it caught my attention. It caught my friends' attention too. Great, even the geek is going to fan girl us. She stood up, slid out of the bench, and walked right past us. She walked to two other geeks in the front row as three people that looked pretty normal joined the original three. I guess that must be the geek group of the class. I turned back to the conversation my friends were having, seeing as they all dismissed the thought.

Mikan's POV

This is just wonderful. Now I get to hear squealing by my desk today. From the corner of my eye, I spotted two people walking through the door. First Misaki came in, then Tsubasa Andou, Crimson Abyss's manager.

"I have to sit next to one of them." Me and Misaki said in disappointment from the minute she got in. I felt a glance coming towards a group and followed the feeling to Andou. He looked away once my eyes moved there.

"It appears that they like to analyze people in a classroom when they come in." Nonoko said.

"I don't mind them analyzing me." Permy said. I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. Before you know it, they won't even know we exist. It's not like we're gonna talk to them anyway." I said.

"You're right." Anna said.

"No! I don't wanna go unnoticed by them." Permy said.

"You are such a fangirl." Misaki said.

"Why, yes. Yes I am." Permy said with pride. We all rolled our eyes except for generous Yuu.

"I heard Jinno is giving a pop quiz today and Misaki-sensei is going to partner us up for an experiment." Yuu said.

"I still wonder how you get this school information. Do you like listen in on staff meetings?" Nonoko asked. Yuu shook his head.

"Let's get our heads out of school stuff, for now. Let's try the topic of masquerade ball! I heard it's in one or two weeks." Permy said.

"How do you hear this stuff?" I asked.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." Permy said with a finger to her mouth.

"But you're not a magician." Hotaru said.

"On the other hand, Hotaru is. Who knows how she gets all those pictures of everybody and all that

information." I said.

"Yeah. It still kind of creeps me out how you do that." Yuu said. I chuckled.

"There's much about Hotaru Imai to be afraid of." Misaki said. We all chuckled at that.

"So Mikan? You going?" Permy asked.

"Serina will probably give me something to do all night. I probably won't be going." I said.

"But you have to go! I already made your dress. Hell, yours was the first one I designed and made." Anna said.

"I know, but it's not like anyone is going to want to dance with me. I'm invisible if you haven't noticed." I said, waving a hand in front of my faces as if it were a barrier of invisibility.

"You're not invisible, because we can obviously see you." Permy said.

"And nobody is going to know who you are. That's the point of the masquerade. Come on! Please!"

"Fine, fine. Just, let's not bring it up until it's actually the time of the ball." I said. They nodded eagerly. The girls really want me to go, seeing as I never go to any social events or school parties. The bell rang then.

"See ya, then, guys. I've got a class to attend, and hopefully he won't be in that class." Misaki said, gesturing a thumb to the oldest guy in the band across the room from us.

"Hoping it for you." I said. She nodded and headed out of the class.

After School Mikan's POV

You know, this day was horrible. I have every class with Natsume Hyuuga. And, it gets better. He sits next to me in every class. I carried my roller blades out to the forest beside the school. I really don't feel like skating in this get up. I took off my glasses, let go of my hair, and put my rollerblades on. Rollerblading out of the forest, I made my way down the street. It felt good to have the wind go through my hair and those glasses off my face. I was almost halfway home, when the street was clear of cars and I could cross. Mind you, I wasn't crossing at the corner. Just when I got to the middle of the street, I noticed a car passing in the lane I was just about to cross. I would surely had gotten hit by the car, had I not jumped up, flipped, placed my hand on the skylight to balance myself and landed on the sidewalk. Lord thank you for the great skating skills you gave me. After taking a second to breathe, I continued on my way home.

Natsume's POV

What the fuck was that? I turned the corner with my car, going at my usual fast speed, when I noticed a girl crossing the street on rollerblades. Her hair was loose and long and silky from the looks of it. Not to mention is was a beautiful caramel brown with honey colored highlights. I knew I was going to hit her by accident and that it would be all over the press. Surprisingly, the girl flipped into the air, placed a hand on our skylight and landed on the sidewalk beside us. I almost crashed the car looking back to see if she was okay. She just took a breath before continuing. That is not normal.

"That is so not normal." Andou said.

"You're not playing." Koko said.

"That shit was ghetto!" Mochu said.

"Much more cuz it was done by a girl." Kitsuneme said.

"That surprised me. I think even Natsume was taken aback by that. He almost crashed us." Ruka said.

"A girl jumped over my car. I think I'm allowed to be a bit surprised." I said monotonously.

"You don't sound very surprised, man." Koko said.

"He never sounds surprised." Mochu said. I rolled my eyes. We were pulling into our driveway when we

saw the rollerblade girl come into the driveway beside us. We didn't notice in which direction she went as we went in our house. We all immediately sat on the couch.

"Do you think we should apologize to the girl? I mean, she did just pull into the driveway next to ours." Ruka said. We all nodded and walked to the neighboring house. When we rang the doorbell, Serah Koizumi opened the door.

"Ahhh! Luna, it's Crimson Abyss!" she screamed. I heard two pairs of feet running, one away from us and the other towards us. The one running away was probably an old maid who forgot to do her chore or something, since I saw the back of her uniform dress.

"Natsume, Ruka, what brings you guys here?" Luna asked.

"Nothing. I think we got the wrong address. Thank you anyway, Koizumi-sans." Ruka said. Both girls passed out muttering about Ruka thanking them. We closed the door and walked back to our house.

"Maybe it wasn't the same girl. Or maybe we got the wrong house." Koko said.

"No, it's kind of hard to find people with that type of hair." I said.

"Since when do you pay attention to a girl's hair, Natsume?" Andou said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah, maybe you're in love." Ruka said.

"The girl avoided a crash by flipping over my car a few minutes ago and then skated into the driveway beside ours. It's not like I have short term memory." I said.

"You ruin all the fun in teasing you, you know." Koko said. I nodded and made my way upstairs to my

room.

A Week Later Mikan's POV

I was very correct about them steadily forgetting that my group and I exists. Misaki and I were both relieved for that reason. We were currently all eating lunch.

"So, today the principal is going to announce that the ball is this Friday." Permy said while picking at the remains of her salad excitedly.

"I see. Two things. Just because you're excited doesn't mean you have to kill your salad. And I don't think I want to go." I said.

"I will not hear such talking coming from you. Dress designs flowing into my head." Anna said covering her ears for a second.

"You're going whether I have to shoot you there or not. You attending might get me good money." Hotaru said.

"I didn't say I wasn't going. Just that I probably won't want to go, seeing as I'm a geek." I said with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Do we have to repeat the words "masquerade ball" fifty times before you get it in your head." Misaki asked. I sighed.

"Alright, I won't complain anymore." I said.

Natsume's POV

"So guys are we going to the masquerade ball this week." Koko asked.

"I guess so. At least, I'm going." Andou said.

"I guess we were all planning on going though." Ruka said.

"I wasn't." I objected.

"But, dude, it's the first high school event we're gonna have since we got back from tour." Kitsuneme said.

"And there will be hot chicks." Mochu said.

"You mean fangirls in slutty dresses throwing themselves on us?" I asked.

"Dude, it's a masquerade, nobody's…" Koko started.

"Gonna know who you are." Kitsuneme finished.

"You're going whether you like it or not, mate." Ruka said. I sighed.

"Whatever."

Serah's POV

I was walking past the maid's table when I heard her conversation. That is going to be a problem. I walked

over to Luna at our table talking to some of our followers.

"Luna, the geek is planning on going to the ball." I whispered in her ear.

"What?" she shrieked. Everybody looked towards us.

"Turn around. It's none of your business." I said. They all listened and turned back to their business.

"We are not gonna let that maid attend the ball." Luna said. I nodded with an evil smirk.

"We'll talk about it after school, then." I said. She nodded and I sat down to talk the usual gossip.


	2. Chapter 2

Day of The Dance Mikan's POV

"Have a nice day at school, Luna-hime, Serah-hime." I said with a bow.

"Have a nice day at work, Serina-hime." I said with a bow, finishing my routine. None of them moved away

to get to their destinations though. They all looked at me.

"Can I serve you in anyway, before you leave?" I asked. Serina took a sip of her decaf.

"I want you to clean the whole house tonight. There should not be a single particle of dust. Every floor should be swept and mopped. Every closet and cabinet organized. Every bathroom spotless. I'll be back at midnight and I don't want to see anything messy." She said. With that command, she walked away with her daughters behind her, giggling. So they didn't want me to go to the ball. Before going and putting on my rollerblades, I went upstairs and checked their rooms. How sweet of them. The bitches took the time after their shower to mess their room up so much, I won't be able to finish before the ball. I walked downstairs and put on my rollerblades to go to school. I'm going to hear a fit about this. I'll tell them when we're all together.

In Lunch

"WHAT!" all of my friends screamed. People didn't pay any mind to us.

"They can't do that to you!" Nonoko yelled.

"On the contrary, yes they can." I said sounding stoic. I was actually kind of looking forward to the ball seeing as all my friends were talking about it and we would enjoy ourselves together.

"You don't have to listen to them!" Misaki yelled.

"On the contrary, yes I do." I said.

"I already had the dresses designed and fabricated! Why, lord, why?" Anna yelled.

"Sorry about that." I said.

"You have to go!" Permy screamed.

"Mikan, this is the event of the year." Yuu said, shyly joining in on the conversation.

"I can't go. I'm sorry. It's not my decision." I said.

"Hotaru, she'll listen to you. Knock some sense into her!" Permy said, turning to my tea-sipping best friend.

"What time are the twins leaving for the ball?" Hotaru asked.

"8:30, to be supposedly "fashionably late"." I said.

"We'll be there at 8:30." Hotaru said. She left it at that and continued sipping her tea.

8:30 Mikan's POV

The three witches had just left when all of my friends popped out of the bushes of the lawn.

"When the hell did you guys get there?" I asked, leading them inside the house. I brought them to the

witches' rooms.

"They really didn't want you to go." Nonoko said looking around the trashed rooms.

"Well, she's going anyway." Hotaru said. Just then I noticed that Anna didn't come upstairs with us.

"Hey, where's Anna?" I asked.

"She's…" Nonoko started.

"Right here." Anna finished. She was holding various bags that one could tell were of dresses and tuxes.

"Let's get ready here. I'm sure the witches wouldn't mind us using their hair supplies and bathrooms."

Permy said with a smile. She's always wanted to see this house, and now that she has, she obviously wants

to use all its supplies.

"There are seven of us and three bathrooms we can use. I cleaned up the bathrooms already, so they are not in the nasty condition the witches left them in. Two can take turns for each bathroom. Once you're done showering and getting dressed, meet in Serina's room." I said. Misaki and Yuu went to Luna's room. Permy and Imai stayed here in Serina's room. And Anna and Nonoko went to Serah's room. I sat with Hotaru and Perms in Serina's room.

"I really don't need to go, Hotaru. You guys can enjoy yourselves without me." I said with my head down.

"You know you want to go." Hotaru said stoically.

"But I can't be in two places at once. If I don't clean, I'm out. If I don't party, it doesn't affect me in anyway. There will be plenty of other masquerade balls. It's not our last year here." I said.

"If you can't go this year, what makes you think Serina will let you come in the next few years? I will make it so you are in two places at once. I am a magician after all." Hotaru said. I gave a small giggle and she had a small smile on her face. Anna, Misaki, and Permy walked in. They were all wearing robes that I had set in the bathrooms for them.

"Your turn Hotaru." I said. Hotaru got up and walked into the bathroom. As soon as the second batch of people were done in the bathrooms and in the room with their robes on, I stepped into the shower. I took a quickie, washing my hair and myself thoroughly though. When I came out of the shower, Yuu was all set and the girls had their nails painted. They were working on their hair.

"Mikan, just have a seat next to Yuu. You will be our last project." Anna said, turning to me from doing Permy's hair. Her eyes were freaking me out, signifying that she was thinking deeply of what she was gonna do to me and what she was doing to Permy's hair. Aside from that, while I waited for the girls to finish, I talked to Yuu about Naru's pop quiz the other day.

"Yuu, you're going to have to step out. We have to work on Mikan, thoroughly." Anna said. Yuu made his way out of the room and down the stairs. I don't know where Nonoko and Anna got the strength from but they lifted me up from the bed and hoisted me onto the vanity chair. Even Misaki looked surprised.

"Perms, work on her makeup. Nonoko, it's your job to do her hair. I'll handle her nails." Anna said. Before I knew it, I had three girls tugging on my hair, pulling my fingers, and putting stuff on and twisting my face. This has never been done to me before. Once the torture was finished, I looked at myself in the mirror and gasped.

"Gasp, when you see the dress Anna designed." Nonoko said. Anna nodded eagerly. She began distributing the bags of dresses.

"Two of you in each room. One changes in the bathroom, the other in the room." Nonoko said. Permy went off with Misaki this time. My bag was surprisingly bigger than everybody else's. When I opened it, my eyes couldn't help but widen. Hotaru came out of the bathroom in her dress.

"Don't just stare at it. Get in it." She said.

"You look so pretty!" I said, scanning her.

"Get in your dress and worry about me later. The girls are going to be here any second to put on our shoes and accessories." She said.

"I really don't know how to get in it." I said. Hotaru sighed and helped me into the dress. It's not like I was fat or anything, but the dress came with a corset that Hotaru tied pretty tight. There was a knock on the door just as Hotaru was tying it.

"Come in!" I said, trying to breathe with how Hotaru was pulling. Hotaru finished and tied then ends of the laces into a bow.

"Mikan, you look like a princess!" Misaki said. All of the girls walked in. They all looked gorgeous, standing next to each other and looking at me. Permy wore a green dress. Her hair was done the way usually has it, permed, and her nails were green to go with her dress. She was wearing gold bangles and a pair of gold earrings with gold 3 inch high heels.

Permy's Dress: (http: / prommafia .com /wp-content /uploads /2009 /03 /sexy-green-prom-dress .jpg)

Standing next to her were the twins. They wore the same dress but in hot pink and sapphire blue. Anna wore her hot pink dress with silver bangles and pink dangly earrings. Nonoko wore the same thing but with sapphire blue dangly earrings and the blue version of the dress. Both of them wore silver 2 inch high heels and had their hair in gentle waves.

Anna and Nonoko's Dress: (http:/ media. onsugar .com/files /ons1 /281 /2817629 /07_2009 /8c /blue-prom-dresses-5 .jpg)

Misaki wore a red knee length dress. She wore a silver bracelet and anklet with a silver pair of 2 inch heels. Her earrings were a pair of studs and her hair was done with her bangs to the side and hair straight down.

Misaki's Dress: (http:/ www. camdendrive .com/ media/ resized/ cute-short-red-pleated-dress-n2106-f_size2 .jpg)

Hotaru was the last one in the line of people looking at me. She wore a long amethyst dress that matched her eyes. Her hair was decorated with a butterfly pin on the side. Her heels were 3 inches high and she wore silver and purple accessories. (The outfit in the picture along with the shoes and jewelry is exactly what Hotaru looks like.)

Hotaru's Dress: (http:/ www. thepageantshop .net/ Prom%202009/ Prom-Dress-Purple-White-2396M .jpg)

"Since, we're all set, let's go downstairs and Yuu will drive us. We have great timing." Misaki said.

"What about our masks?" I asked. All of them pulled out butterfly masks that corresponded with the color of their dress. Anna handed me my mask. We walked downstairs to where Yuu was sitting on the living room. He wore a black tux with a brown tie and white polo. There was a machine moving quickly around the floor.

"What the hell is that?" I asked.

"Stop." Hotaru said. The machine stopped and faced us. It was a giant machine version of me.

"You made a machine that looks like me? You really do care!" I said, hugging Hotaru. She pushed me off of her.

"This is Amanatsu. She is exactly like Mikan. She is going to be cleaning the house. Told you I could have you in two places at once." Hotaru said. I smiled.

"I would kiss you but my lip gloss would get on your cheek!" I said with a large smile. A flash removed the smile on my face and left me clueless.

"That's probably gonna get me a lot of money. Amanatsu, group picture." Hotaru said handing the camera to the machine me. Amanatsu took the picture and we were off. How we fit seven of us in one van is besides me cuz trust me, my dress took up a lot of space in the back seat.

Natsume's POV

The gang and I were just chilling out by the punch bowl, talking. We were all wearing pretty much the same thing but with different colored ties. We were all wearing black tuxedoes and white polos. I wore a red tie, Ruka a light blue one, Koko a yellow, Kitsuneme an orange, Mochu a brown one, and Tsubasa a dark blue one. We wore plain masks that corresponded with our tie color.

"I came here for what reason?" I asked, turning to my friends. They could all tell I was bored as hell.

"For that reason." Mochu said in awe, pointing to the grand staircase. Five girls and one guy descended the stairs. The girls looked nice and the guy was alright. They were dressed way more decently than some of the other girls and guys in the place.

"Not anything special." I muttered looking back to my punch on the table. I heard gasps from everybody in the room and looked to where they were looking. The people from before were now at the bottom of the stairs and one girl descended the stairs. She was absolutely gorgeous. Nobody in the room could probably compare to her. She wore a dress that the top part was white with various swirls leading to flowers. The bottom part was large and pink. Her hair was in a curly half updo and lowdo. The only jewelry she wore was a gold locket on her neck. Her shoes were 4 inch white high heels. Her mask was white, and like her dress, had pink swirls leading to flowers.

Mikan's Dress: (http:/ .com/ cm/ misquincemag/ images/ light%20pink-dress-

quinceanera-allure-q200-5-de-6159721 .jpg)

Mikan's Hair: (h t t p : / / w w w . p r o m - h a i r s t y l e s . u s / i m a g e s / 0 2 8 . j p g)

She reached the bottom of the staircase and began talking to the people from before.

"Your mouth is wide open, mate." Ruka whispered into my ear. Before the rest of the gang could see me, I snapped my face to its usual stoic nature.

Mikan's POV

"Everybody was staring at me. Do I look that bad?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me? You look better than everyone else." Permy said.

"Thanks." I said. She nodded.

"Well girls, we should get ourselves some drinks and then pick a table. We made it just an hour late. So we probably didn't miss anything important." Misaki said.

"I'll be off. I'm supposed to be a hidden chaperone, as Jinno-sensei says." Yuu said. I nodded and we made our way to the punch table as he walked off. There was a line of boys there. One of them approached each of us. The guy who approached me wore a decent tux with a red mask and tie. He bowed, took my hand, and kissed it.

"M'lady." He said. There was a playful smirk on his face when he looked up at me.

"Good sir." I said with a small curtsy and playful smile on my face too. I looked and saw that my friends had already left with his friends to dance.

"What great friends, we have. Didn't tell us at all that they were leaving." I said, sarcastically. He didn't say anything. He looked like he was looking at my hair more than at me.

"Is something in my hair?" I asked, insecurely. The smirk from before returned.

"So, you're the girl who jumped over my car. I knew I recognized that hair from somewhere." He said.

"That was your car? You should really drive slower!" I said.

"You shouldn't j-walk." He replied.

"Well, aren't you are smart. But, technically I wasn't j-walking. I was j-skating." I said. He rolled his eyes.

"Big difference." He said.

"Yes, there is." I said with a laugh. He chuckled along.

"You have a nice laugh." He said with a smile.

"I'm not the only one." I said.

"Funny cuz I don't laugh or talk often." He said.

"Well, looks like we can both be ourselves tonight, then." I said. He chuckled.

"I guess so." He said. We stood for a silent second.

"Since we're being ourselves here, though my friends will mention this for the rest of my life, would you like to dance?" he asked, holding out a hand.

'Why are they going to mention it? You don't know how to dance?" I asked, taking his hand.

"I know how to dance. I just don't dance with girls." He said, leading me to the middle of the dance floor.

"Likewise but with guys… unless you mean that you dance with guys." I said.

"Are you implying something?" he asked.

"No, just questioning." I said. We began dancing together

"What do you know, you know how to dance." He said.

"Are you implying something?" I asked.

"No, just saying that most girls don't know how to dance decently." He said.

"I agree. But as you can see, my friends and I are not most girls." I said, gesturing to the only other pairs on the floor.

"Though, at least they are not embarrassing themselves by trying though. I know a few girls who would." I added. He shrugged at my statement.

"I guess, you're right." He agreed. When the song ended, I noticed the orchestra walked off the stage. Now more people crowded on the dance floor as Narumi walked onto the stage.

"As you can tell, there's no music. We only hired the orchestra to a certain time and the other band has yet to arrive. Is anybody a good singer?" he asked. Luna and Serah immediately jumped on the stage and took the mic from him.

"Natsume, wherever you are, we love you! Marry us!' they sang. Everybody laughed as Narumi tried to wrestle the mic away from them.

"Anybody _really_ know how to sing?" Naru asked again. Hotaru walked up beside me along with her pair.

"Get up there and sing." She said.

"I don't usually sing in front of people." I said, uneasily.

"We're gonna be ourselves today, right?" my partner said. I nodded and began walking to the stage. It wasn't until I started walking away that I noticed he had his arm around my waist and how right it felt. I took the steps up onto the stage. Narumi bowed and kissed my hand

"So, you can sing?" he asked. I nodded and he handed me the mic.

"What type of song am I supposed to sing?" I asked.

"A slow one and then a modern one. That should stall for the band." He answered.

Play: (http:/ www. youtube .com/ watch?v=4WXx0YoEpKs&feature=fvst)

Play: (http:/ www. / watch?v=LfRNRymrv9k)

"That was really good." My partner said when I finished singing, holding my hand as I descended the stage steps. The music the band was playing now was more to the slutty and perverted side of dancing, so we stepped out to the gardens.

"I wasn't expecting to enjoy myself here." I admitted.

"I wasn't either, but I'm assuming that means that you like spending time with me." He said.

"Yes, and I imagine you feel the same." I said. He didn't respond and just looked at me in the eyes. It felt like he was scanning my insides and out.

"You're so gorgeous… and, even though it sounds corny, I don't think I believed in love at first sight until I met you tonight." He said, leaning in towards me. We were just about to kiss until I heard the clock chime and my head snapped towards it. 12!

"I've got to go." I said quickly.

"Wait." He said putting a hand on my shoulder before I could turn away from him and peeling off his mask. Natsume Hyuuga? Oh my god, I almost kissed Natsume Hyuuga! Knowing that only gave me even more motive to run, and I did so. Just when I started running, my locket snapped and he was holding onto it. Knowing I couldn't stop, I kept on running… and he chased after me. On the middle of the grand staircase, he yelled to me.

"Can you at least tell me your name?" he called. I chuckled and gave him one last smile. I'm not going to be telling him who I am in the future anyway.

"That would beat the whole point in this being a masquerade. You broke the first rule, removing your mask." I said. I continued running.

"What about the locket?" he called after me.

"Hold onto it for me!" I called, not looking back.

Natsume's POV

All the girls began running up to me, now knowing who I was.

"Natsume!" they screamed. I sighed and just walked to a table and sat down. My bandmates surrounded the table.

"Sucks, man. Wanna go home? We already said bye to our partners anyway." Koko said. I nodded. We left the ball and Andou drove since I wasn't in the mood. We got home and I threw myself on the couch.

"You really liked her? I mean you just met her tonight." Kitsuneme asked.

"Yeah but she didn't freak out when she found who I was. And she's funny. She makes me laugh, despite the doubts you might have. And not to mention that she is the girl who jumped over my car. I could tell by her hair." I said.

"Her hair." Mochu repeated as if in disbelief.

"She could have at least let me kiss her before running off." I muttered.

"You almost kissed her?" all of the gang yelled. I remained unfazed by their loud tone.

"Yeah. But she ran off before I could. Damn it." I said, slamming my fist on the coffee table. They slightly jumped at that.

"Well, you have her locket don't you? She said to hold onto it for her which means she is expecting to see you again and get it back." Ruka said

"You're right." I said, sitting up and pulling the locket out of my pocket. It dangled in front of me and I decided to open it. On one side of the heart shaped locket was a blonde man. On the other side was a woman who looked exactly like her only the hair was slightly darker.

"Whatever. I'll find out who she is even if it takes me a century. "I muttered. I walked away from my stunned friends to lie in bed and think.


	3. Chapter 3

Next Day Mikan's POV

I walked into homeroom and all of my friends, including Misaki were all there crowded around Hotaru's table. No wonder they weren't at the lockers when I arrived.

"How did it go? Did the witch catch you?" Misaki whispered.

"I slipped out of my dress and shoved it in my room, put on the maid dress and made it just in time to meet her at the door. It was damn close. And Amanatsu did a great job." I said. The bell rang and Misaki sprinted out with a goodbye. Just then Hyuuga walked in. I was already making my way to our seat and he and Nogi were right behind me. I slid in and looked at the window. That is, until I saw a twinkle of light to my side. I turned and saw Hyuuga dangling my locket in front of him. I snapped my head back to the window and my eyes widened. Oh my gosh. He has my locket. How am I supposed to get it back without telling him who I am? It's my prized possession. And if one of the witches caught hold of it, even though they are dumbshits, they would be able to tell that it belongs to me. Crap. I can't look suspicious though. Narumi jumped in.

"Class, Natsume-kun has an announcement to make." He said. Hyuuga stood and walked to the front of the class.

"Yesterday this girl I met left the ball without her locket. If the locket belongs to anybody, come and tell me the name of the songs you sang and sing them. Spread it around the school about this, because I'm going to find my Cinderella." He said with a smirk at the end.

Lunch

My friends all sat around the table with me as I had my head laying my head on the table. They approached with their lunches.

"Mikan, what's wrong?" Anna asked.

"Hehasmylocket." I muttered, my voice sounding muffled and not lifting my head from the table.

"What?" Permy asked. I lifted my head.

"He has my locket!" I said, but not loud enough for somebody at another table to hear. Misaki winced.

"Ooh. How do you plan to get it back?" she asked.

"You should tell him." Nonoko said.

"That is the last thing I'll do. How disappointed and upset do you think he would feel knowing that he almost kissed a geek?" I said.

"HE ALMOST WHAT?" Permy screamed.

"Kiss?" Yuu asked.

"Yes. Yes. Hard to believe, yes." I said.

"You have to tell him though." Anna said.

"No!" I said.

"Mikan, despite how disappointed he might feel, you want that locket back more than anything, correct?" Hotaru asked. I nodded.

"Then tell him. You have no other option." Misaki said.

"Can't I just break into their house while they're sleeping?" I asked.

"You don't even know where they live." Permy said.

"Yes I do. They're my next door neighbor." I said.

"NEIGHBOR?" Permy screamed.

"You have to stop screaming, Perms. You're attracting attention to us." Misaki said. Permy began inhaling and exhaling. We heard crying and turned our attention to where the noise came from. There was a girl walking away from Hyuuga's table. A line of girls were trying to claim to be his Cinderella. Hyuuga sat staring at each of them with my locket in his hand.

"See! He has my locket and every girl is trying to say it's hers." I said.

"Mikan. Nobody will be able to get the locket. Those songs are originals, made by you. Nobody knows the lyrics but you." Hotaru said.

"I guess you're right, but to get it back, I would have to tell him the lyrics and then he'll know it's me." I said.

"Whatever, Mikan. While you think of a way to get the locket back without telling him that it was you, you are winning me thousands of dollars with your pictures. Even Hyuuga bought one." Hotaru said.

"You're selling pictures of me?" I said. She ignored my question and walked away to her already set up booth. All of the guys scrammed there and we were the only table with people still populating it. Then my friends got up.

"We're just gonna buy one of your pictures. Who knows the next time we'll be able to see you like that?" Anna said. They began walking away.

"Traitors!" I called after them. My head fell back to the table.

Natsume's POV

"Traitors!" I heard. It was the geek named Sakura who was yelling. Her head fell back to the table.

"And Natsume! I love you!" Luna Koizumi sang.

"I give up. Everybody away from the table. That's it for today." I said. They all walked away with

depressed looks. I let my head fall on the table like Sakura's.

"This girl really doesn't want anybody or you to know her identity." Ruka said.

"You're not helping me feel better, Ruka." I growled.

"It's alright, mate. How about Sunday we go to the skate park to get your mind off of it?" Ruka asked.

"Yeah. It always used to get your mind off of things!" Koko said. I nodded.

Sunday Natsume's POV

I woke up around midday cuz Andou woke me up.

"Dude, you have been sleeping all morning. We're already ready to go to the skate park. Get ready and grab your board." He said. I nodded and sluggishly got out of bed as Andou left the room. Once I was done getting ready, I walked down to where everybody was sitting in the living room.

"Let's go!" they said. They all had their skateboards and gear. We decided to walk to the skate park instead of drive or skate. When we arrived, we immediately hit the ramps and rails. Skating got my mind off of most everything until I heard a commotion coming from the half pipe.

"What's with all the ruckus?" Ruka asked as we made our way there. The park loudspeaker came on. They had one for when they held competitions.

"Woah! I don't think I have ever seen a girl skateboard like that! She has just beaten the king of skateboarding! Who is this girl? Who is this new king of the pipe? Or should I say queen?" the announcer said. I looked to the person who just reached the top of the pipe and held her skateboard under her right hand. With her left hand, she removed her helmet and then shook her hair out. I recognize that hair anywhere.

"That's the girl!" I said.

"It's her!" Ruka said.

"Hey!" I called. The girl looked towards me and then her eyes widened. I was about to reach the steps to the half pipe until she jumped off from the top, and landed safely!

"Come back!" I called. She kept on running, looking back at me every once in a while. She looked back at me one more time, when a guy pushed his skateboard in her path and punched her head on her way down. She fell to the ground unconscious. I ran up to him.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Kaito Ryuchi." He answered.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyers, asshole." I said. I bent down beside the girl. There was blood coming from her head. Andou checked her pulse.

"She's alright. Just unconscious." He said. I pulled off her shoe and looked at the foot she tripped on. It was purple from what I guess was a sprain.

"Let's check her at home." Koko said. I nodded and carried her all the way to our house.

"Where are we going to put her?" Kistuneme asked. I was already walking up the stairs and entering my room. I lied her down on the bed.

"We should get a doctor to examine her head and her foot." Andou said. I nodded and Ruka called the doctor. Everything checked out alright with her, luckily.

"Where are you going to sleep tonight?" Ruka asked since it was late.

"I'll sleep on the couch." I said, walking to the couch in my room. He nodded and they all left the room, turning off the lights on their way.

Next Day Mikan's POV

I woke up early in the morning, I guess. I'm not in my room, am I? What's with this headache? I touched my head and felt bandages. I looked at my foot which also had pain in it. I got up from the bed, wincing when my foot felt a pang of pain. I limped around the room…and then I spotted Hyuuga. Now I remember. Holy fuck. I know I'm going to have to leave but I guess I could at least leave a note. Once I was done writing it, I left the room through the window and climbed down a tree. Don't ask me how I did it. I just did. I got ready and left for school seeing as I was going to be late. I got to school and found my friends at the lockers.

"Mikan, what the fuck is with the hat? Why are you limping?" Permy asked. I was wearing a baseball cap and I removed it just a little so that they could see the bandages and pulled down my socks a bit.

"What the hell happened?" Hotaru asked.

"I was at the skate park and Hyuuga saw me. He started chasing me and I ran. A guy that I beat in a contest tripped me with his skateboard, explaining my foot, and punched me in the head. I guess Hyuuga took me to his house cuz I woke up in his room today." I said.

"IN HIS ROOM?" Permy said.

"Perms, your voice." Misaki said.

"How did you get out?" Nonoko asked.

"Through the window and climbing down a tree." I said.

"T-through a w-window?" Yuu said. I nodded.

"I really don't believe you're my best friend." Hotaru said.

"So what are you going to do about him in class?" Anna asked.

"I guess I'm just going to have to pretend I'm not limping, even though it will hurt a bit." I said. They walked with me to the classroom where Misaki departed from us. I sat and all of Crimson Abyss was there but Hyuuga. Narumi came in and began class without him after taking attendance. In the middle of class though, the door slammed open. Hyuuga stomped through the door and to our bench without a word and with the worse aura possible.

"What's with the mood, mate?" Ruka asked. Hyuuga slammed a piece of paper on the desk and I immediately recognized it as the note I left.

"She left and I couldn't even get her damn name! Damn fucking shit." Hyuuga growled. I felt kind of bad, but it _is_ better that he doesn't know.

"The rest of the class is free period!" Narumi said jumping out.

"Can I read it?" Ruka asked. Hyuuga nodded and the rest of his band gathered around.

"Hey Hyuuga. Um, thanks for taking care of me. I really wasn't expecting to wake up in your room so I, of course, need to apologize for being a bother. And also I apologize for kind of looking through your things to find my locket. You come up with good hiding spaces, cuz I failed in its retrieval. I'm also sorry for using your things without asking, being rude and leaving without a word, and not telling you my name. I know that you really want to know but I have my reasons for not telling. Thanks and sorry again and make sure you don't lose that locket. If I ever do tell you my name, I want you to know that is my prized possession and I won't lose sight of it." Ruka read. It's a really lame note, I know.

"I understand why you would be pissed, man." Mochu said. I decided to go to my friends then, to not hear anymore.

Natsume's POV

I'm so angry! Why won't she tell me her name? If it's her prized possession then she should do anything for it.

"What reason would she have for not telling her name to the leader of Crimson Abyss?" Kistuneme asked. I sighed and looked around the classroom. Sakura's walking pretty slowly today. And what the hell's with the hat? I didn't know she was a hat person. Damn though! How the hell did that girl leave?

"How _did _she leave? The door sounds whenever somebody enters or leaves and Ruka never misses the noise." Koko said.

"There's no way…" I said with wide eyes. Then I sighed.

"There is a way. Of course a girl that can jump down from a half pipe wouldn't be scared to climb down a tree outside of the window with a sprained ankle. I don't recall having my window open last night, either." I said.

"Dude, you fell in love with a crazy acrobat chick." Koko said.

"I think I did. Who leaves a ball rushing out and tells me that giving me her name would beat the entire point in the masquerade?" I said.

"Well, she is right. You did break the first rule and it would beat the point of the masquerade. So I guess she's not crazy in that sense." Ruka said. I glared at him and he chuckled.

"Listen, you know she's in this school and she won't lose sight of it. Just never transfer until she gets the

guts to confess." Ruka said.

"But what if she never confesses?" Mochu said. I glared at all of them.

"You guys are a useless group of friends." I said. They all nodded with a smile.

"But you know that whatever you need…" Koko said.

"We'll be right behind you." Kitsuneme finished.

"We kind of understand where you're coming from too." Mochu said. I raised an eyebrow.

"We miss the partners we had that night too." Ruka said.

"I guess so. But if you do find them, you probably won't have to worry about her jumping out of a window to get away from you. Without her name, it's like she doesn't exist. The only evidence of her is this picture." I said throwing down the picture I bought from Imai.

"She really was a beauty. We got pictures of our partners too." Mochu said. My friends all put down pictures of the girls they danced with.

"Remind me never to attend a masquerade again if it's going to leave me like this." I said, rustling my hair.

"I'm going to find out who she is, though. I'm not giving up even if she wants me too. Cuz Natsume Hyuuga is not a fucking quitter." I said. My friends nodded and laughed.

"This girl will probably do you a lot of good. Look how much you have been talking since you met her at the ball." Ruka said.

"That's because she's got me fucking frustrated! She's driving me up a wall and I want to know who she is." I said banging my head on the bench desk. Luna and Serah came up.

"When will you admit to yourself that I am your Cinderella?" Luna asked.

"No! I'm his Cinderella!" Serah yelled. They kept arguing.

"Shut up! Neither of you look like this!" I said holding up the picture of the girl I danced with.

"You should know about a girl's secrets. Hair dye and extensions!" Luna said. Serah agreed with her eagerly.

"Tell me." I said. They nodded quickly.

"Have you ever jumped over a car?" I asked, resting my chin on my hands.

"No! Why would we do that? We could die!" Luna and Serah yelled in unison.

"Then get out of my face. Cuz unless you know how to rollerblade over a car, we're done talking here." I said. They wept and walked away.

Mikan's POV

"You rollerbladed over his car?" Perms whispered.

"I was J-skating and he was speeding. The only options I had were to jump over his car or die. Which would you choose?" I whispered in argument.

"Die then!" she whispered.

"Listen. Can we talk about this with Misaki, at lunch, where we can talk normally?" I asked.

"Fine. Every detail will be told." She said with a warning finger.

Lunch

"So all in all, I just want my locket back." I finished explaining.

"You went through his stuff and couldn't get me a pair of boxers to keep?" Permy asked. I shook my head.

"That's not the point. I went through his stuff and still couldn't find it. I need to find out where he keeps it." I said.

"I can help for a fee." Hotaru said.

"How?" I asked. She held out a hand. I took my wallet and handed her about 1500 yen.

"I'm his cousin." She said. My jaw dropped.

"You could have told me that a long time ago!" I yelled.

"Now it's you attracting attention, Mikan-chan." Nonoko said. Since I was standing from the outrage, I sat back down.

"You never really needed to know until now." She said. I tried to keep my cool.

"I'll see you tonight at 8." She said.


	4. Chapter 4

8 o clock

I was waiting outside for my friends. Hotaru already informed me of the plan and I had everything set. I had to be in my geek getup though. They made their way to me and we walked together to the house next door. Hotaru rang the doorbell. Hyuuga, himself, opened the door.

"What are you doing here, Imai?" he asked.

"I wanted to have a slumber party but since my parents have guests over, they said I could stay here. You do have a guest bedroom after all." Hotaru said.

"Tch." He said, opening the door wide enough for all of us to walk in. All of his friends were sitting on the couch.

"Hey Natsume, who was it?" Andou asked. Hyuuga gestured his head to us and their eyes widened upon seeing us.

"You let fangirls in the house? Are you truly that in love with the girl to let us all die for your little auditions?" Andou whispered.

"Yes, I do like her that much." Hyuuga whispered back fiercely.

"And we are not fangirls." I added.

"As if we haven't heard that one before." Mochiage said sarcastically.

"How about using some common sense for once? If we were fangirls, don't you think we would already be all over you guys? I mean, we're in your sanctuary. A fan girl couldn't be happier like that." Misaki said.

"Some people can be very good actors though." Kitsuneme said.

"Imai's my cousin and those are her friends. I doubt they're going to do anything to us." Hyuuga said.

"I-I-Imai is your cousin?" Ruka gasped. Hotaru had a smirk on her face and took a picture.

"Hotaru, I knew you were scary but with the hell did you do to the kid?" I asked.

"I just need to sell what the public wants. If he can't handle having cameras on him 24/7, that's his problem." She answered. It's always about the money.

"Anyway. Just take us to the guest bedroom and we'll be out of your way, hopefully." Nonoko said. Hyuuga began leading the way up the stairs. There was a string hanging down from the ceiling at the end of the hall. Hyuuga pulled it down forming a staircase to the attic which was an additional bedroom.

"If that's it, I'll be leaving." Hyuuga said. Then he walked out.

Natsume's POV

I walked back downstairs.

"Are you sure they aren't going to jump us in the middle of the night?" Mochu asked.

"We have class with those girls. When have they ever jumped us?" I asked.

"I guess he's right. I mean, on our first day they were talking about us and it sounded like they didn't want to sit next to either of us or even be in the same class as us." Andou said.

"True. The fact that Sakura leaves during our conversations is enough. Any fan girl would take advantage of the seating arrangement." Ruka said. We all nodded. We heard footsteps coming our way.

"Excuse me, but do you have a large and deep water basin?" the pinkette asked. I think her name was…Unemoniya.

"What do you need a large water basin for?" Mochu asked.

"Nonoko is a chemist. We're experimenting with something." She answered. Ruka got her a water basin and she walked away with a thank you.

"Potions…" Koko muttered.

"Love Potions..." Kitsuneme muttered afterward.

"Do you think it's possible?" Ruka asked, coming back and sitting on the L-couch with everybody else.

"I don't know, but I don't think so." I said picking up a manga and beginning to read it. We heard a bump and then a crash coming from upstairs. A blue haired girl came downstairs.

"Can we have your first aid kit? Anna kind of tripped over the water basin." She said. Ruka went and got the first aid kit for her. She left upstairs with a thank you as well.

Mikan's POV

It feels so much better to limp around the place. I don't think anybody knows how much it hurts to have a sprained ankle and try to walk on it. Anna came up with a water basin filled with hot water. I was sitting in a chair by now and dipped my ankle in the water. Nonoko took the hat off of my head. She looked and felt my bandages.

"We are going to need to change these bandages and the ones on your foot." She said. Misaki came up beside her and looked at my wounds before wincing at them. Walking to the only bed in the room, she kicked its post and then knocked the clock beside it down.

"Now, Nonoko, go tell them that Anna tripped over the water basin and you need the first aid kit." Misaki said. Nonoko nodded and rushed down.

"Let's unwrap this." Anna said, removing the bandages. She looked at my wound with a worried expression. The ring the guy had on his hand when he punched me placed a pretty deep gash. Not to mention that the way I fell didn't help either. She touched it and I winced.

"Sucks, man." Misaki said. I nodded and Nonoko came in the room. The twins began replacing my bandages and wiping the dry blood off my head.

"So how are we going to get the locket?" Permy asked.

"Mikan is out of commission so we will be looking inside of Hyuuga's room through a pair of x-ray goggles I have for everybody. We are going to pass by every room in this house." Hotaru said.

"The operation starts at 12. We tell them we're going to sleep at 10, which we will do to be a little rested, and then at 12, we go." She finished.

"It's almost ten now if you wanna go tell them." I said, looking at my wristwatch. Hotaru went down to give the message this time.

Natsume's POV

The guys were still discussing the matter of the girls being in the house when Imai came down.

"What now, Imai?" I asked.

"Just to tell you that we will be going to sleep now." She said and then walked away. The guys were talking about how suspicious it was that they were going to sleep at 10.

"Guys, seriously. If you think it's that suspicious, then at 11 we'll pass by and check if they're sleeping." I said. They nodded agreeing with me and continued to watch tv.

11 o' clock

We got up from the living room silently and walked upstairs towards the attic. The stairs were pulled down so we just walked up. Before we knew it, we were scooped up in a clear garbage bag and a little glass pot fell. All the girls immediately woke up. I noticed that when Sakura woke up and sat in a kneeling position, she winced a little which caused me to raise an eyebrow, but I disregarded it.

"Imai, what's with the trap?" I asked.

"To keep you sick people out." The tall girl with the reddish pinkish hair said.

"Sick? How are we sick?" Andou asked.

"You're god damn peeping on your cousin and her friends while they're sleeping. That's sick." The blue haired one said.

"We were just checking if you were sleeping comfortably." Mochu said.

"My ass." Sakura muttered.

"Let's just let them out so that they can leave. Now we're going to have to reset the trap, damn it. Do you know how long it took us to find rope and how much we paid for Hotaru's stupid clear garbage bag?"

Unemoniya said. Imai held a gun to her head.

"Did I say stupid? I meant brilliant." She corrected herself. Green haired girl got up from the bed and used a knife to cut open the bag.

"Why do you have a knife again?" Kitsuneme asked.

"We never go to a place unarmed. I know martial arts. Anna and Nonoko carry around tasers. Perms has a knife with her at all times and Hotaru always has her guns. Misaki is very talented with fighting. She fought a gang off once. It was a very funny and amusing sight. And we each specialize in using a traditional weapon. Anna and Nonoko are great when using nun chucks. Hotaru is a great archer despite her very gun liking personality. Misaki is a whiz at the spiked ball mace (the stick with a chain and spike ball attached). Permy works with daggers. And I like to use swords." Sakura said.

"They're chick with arms, man. I told you they were crazy and you shouldn't have let them in the house." Mochu whispered.

"Chicks with arms and great hearing, thank you." Sakura said.

"Well then, we'll be on our way. We're so tired that we're going to bed now." Ruka said nervously. We walked out of the room and actually went to bed like Ruka said.

Mikan's POV

"Damn." Hotaru muttered.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It seems they are on high alert at the moment. I don't think we'll be able to get your locket like that. For once my plan has failed. They are too highly suspicious of girls and probably have their own traps around their rooms." She said.

"Shit. I thought I was gonna be able to go through their drawers." Permy muttered. I chuckled.

"I guess it's alright. I'll get that locket somehow. Besides, either way I would lose. I'll probably get yelled at for forgetting ManiPedi Wednesdays." I said. My friends rolled their eyes at the Koizumis' stupidity and we went to bed.

Saturday Morning Mikan's POV

"Mikan!" I heard from my shed outside. I woke up and found all three witches standing angrily in the living room.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I don't know why and what you have been doing lately but you are obviously not doing a very good job at keeping this house maintained. You know very well that we don't want to see anything wrong! Which is why, I would like to know why my shampoo bottle is empty! You are always supposed to have one ready! Don't you pay attention when you clean the bathrooms?" Serina yelled.

"I ran out of body spray! And you completely forgot ManiPedi Wednesdays." Serah said.

"And I ran out of lotion! Not to mention that she has yet to pick up the clothes we ordered from Pink Sheik Boutique." Luna added. I really wanted to roll my eyes.

"I'll be going to the shopping center then. I needed to pick up some groceries anyway." I said. They stormed to their chambers and I walked out of the house and to the shopping center. It was a quick walk around. The mall was only a quick stop at the Bath and Body Works and then at the Pink Boutique. Really, how many pink clothes do they wear? How many do they even need to wear?…or wear at all? It doesn't matter. I walked out to the marketplace.

"Morning Hoshi. What do you have for me today?" I asked, approaching the old man.

"Oooh, Mikan. Good morning. I have plenty of tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, rice, beans, and everything. You're welcome to buy anything." He said. I took a few fish, a few pounds of rice and beans, some vegetables and fruits.

"Your eyes are saying that you have a mystery." Hoshi said as I began helping him calculate the amount of my purchase.

"I _am_ the mystery. The mystery of the lead singer of a famous band. Not to mention he has my locket." I said with a sigh.

"It will work out in the end. I just know it." He said. My purchase was bagged by now and I smiled and gave the old man a kiss on the forehead.

"Thanks. I'll see you next time." I said. He nodded and waved me off.

Natsume's POV

I was just walking around with the guys when I spotted her.

"Guys, she's there." I said. They all looked to the tree I was pointing at.

"Let's surround her." Koko said. I nodded and we walked around to be able to surround her. From my view, I could see that she had various bags filled groceries, clothes, and hygiene products.

"Now!" Andou yelled. We all jumped out around her. She looked distressed for a second.

"Come on, give up! It's better for you!" she yelled to me. I raised my eyebrow. We all ran towards her. Right when we were about to grab her, she jumped up, stepped on Mochu's back and then whacked us all in the head with her grocery bag, which mind you was very heavy. When she landed, she fell to her knees.

"Fucking useless ankle." She cursed.

"It's not gonna help you get better to be jumping around with that ankle." I said, approaching her slowly. She was still on the floor a few feet away when I recovered from the hit she gave me.

"Listen. I know it's not going to help me, and knowing my name isn't going to help you. And also, I don't really appreciate being called a crazy acrobat chick. I don't need these two ears to hear. Plenty of people can hear for me. But since you know or think I'm crazy and acrobatic, you should know that even with a sprained ankle, I will do crazy things." She said. All of a sudden, she was gone and jumping through the trees on one foot. I walked to the first tree she jumped on and punched it.

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I said, continuously punching the wall. My friends gathered around. Ruka placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry mate. It looks like this girl will do anything to keep you from knowing her name. Maybe it is better that you forget her. You're going kind of crazy." He said. I dropped my head from the tree.

"One last try. I've got an idea." I said walking off by myself.


	5. Chapter 5

Next Day Mikan's POV

Damn. I'm really starting to hate keeping this from him, but…I have to convince myself that it's for his own good. The PA system came on.

"Hey. I don't know if you're here today or if you're not, and this is kind of awkward. But, listen Cinderella. I have a concert tonight and I want you to watch on tv. And if by then you really don't want to tell me your name, I guess I'll be giving you your locket the next time I see you." I heard. Oh my god. What did he do now?

Later that Night

I don't have a tv in my shed, but I know that Serah and Luna will be watching. I walked into the living room and the concert was just beginning.

"Can I give you two foot and back massages?" I asked. They both raised their eyebrows before nodding and lying on their stomachs on the L-couch. Natsume came on stage and ruffled his hair.

"_Okay, so there's this girl. I call her my Cinderella because she ran away from me on the night of the masquerade ball at my school. I have her gold locket and have encountered her various times but always failed in getting her name. Yesterday was the latest failure I had and decided, I'm gonna have to get my anger and sadness on paper. So here I am, after spending an entire night writing lyrics, the song I wrote last night, "It's Not Over". The title explains it all. I'm not giving up on you. You can beat me up various times and I still won't give up. Whatever I have to do to get your name, I'll do it. If I did something wrong, tell me. Right now, you're my top priority, Cinderella. If you won't tell me, I'll still be looking for you when I'm an old geezer." He said._

After listening to the song, I had finished giving the witches massages and ran to my shed to cry. He wrote a fucking song for me? I want to tell him. But he'll just get so disappointed. I cried myself to sleep that night, out of the confusion of my own heart.

Next Morning

I knew my friends were waiting for me in homeroom once I didn't see them at my locker.

"You have to tell him." They all whispered from the minute I got in the classroom. I nodded, wearily. Just to put him out of his misery. Narumi jumped in the room, called free period, and jumped out, just as I had predicted. I stood in front of the class.

"Hotaru Imai is giving an entire album of pictures of the Cinderella girl and of Crimson Abyss for the first person who runs around the school three times." I said. Everybody ran out but Natsume's band and my friends. Just then Misaki walked in, pulling Andou behind her. She threw Andou to the side of the room that Crimson Abyss was at. We stood in a line in front of them, with me right in front of Natsume.

"Can we help you?" Mochu asked. I took off my hat, pulled the scrunchy out of my hair, and took off my glasses. Natsume's eyes immediately widened.

"Listen, I know you're disappointed now…" I said, before I felt arms envelop me. I automatically leaned into his chest.

"Why was I so damn blind? All the signs were there too. God, I missed you." He said. I was genuinely surprised when he said so and pushed him back a little.

"Wait. So, you're not disappointed?" I asked. He shook his head. Then there was a smirk on his face.

"I think this belongs to you." He said holding my locket up high. I tried to reach for it and couldn't make it. I jumped this time and his arm caught my waist and his lips met mine. I loved the kiss. It was gentle and loving but passionate at the same time.

"Wait. What about your ankle and your head?" Koko asked, interrupting the small moment I was enjoying. Natsume put me down and I moved my now side swept bangs up, revealing the bandages. Then I pulled down a bit of my sock so as he could see the bandages there. I felt something cold touch my chest before I could explain my hiding places for the bandages. Natsume had placed my locket on my neck from behind me. I spun around and hugged him.

"I almost forgot. Thanks for holding onto it for me. I don't know what I would do without it." I said.

"Awww! Mikan/Natsume finally got her/his happy ending!" Nonoko, Anna, Koko, and Kitsuneme said. They turned to each other and blushed.

"I'm not the only one." I said. I lined everybody up with who they danced with at the masquerade.

"Everybody, meet your partners from the ball." I said with a corny smile. Their eyes widened, especially Ruka and Hotaru. But then Hotaru looked away with a little blush and Ruka hugged her with a blush.

"Awwwww! Hotaru! That's so cute! I've never seen you blush before in my life!" I squealed. She pointed the baka gun at me and everybody laughed at my distressed face.

"So Ruka with Hotaru, Permy with Mochu, Misaki with Tsubasa, the twins with the twins, and you and I are the pairings from the ball." I said. Everybody nodded.

"Wait, so that's what you needed the hot water and first aid kit for? To soak her foot and change her bandages?" Ruka asked. I nodded.

"I've been walking on this thing as if there's nothing wrong with it which doesn't help me at all." I said.

"I told you that when you ambushed us with grocery bags." Natsume said. I kissed his cheek.

"And I still loved you." I said with a smile. He smiled back at me and I couldn't help but hug him again. I heard footsteps coming through the wall. I quickly released him, put my hair in a bun and put my glasses and hat on before sitting with my friends at Hotaru's table.

"They can't know." I whispered to him. He nodded and they acted normally when the people came in.

"I got it!" Luna and some guy screamed. Those things cost me a lot of money so they better take care of it. Natsume gestured the guy over to him.

"I'll give you 500 yen for it." He said. My eyes widened and jaw dropped. Seriously, he's buying the pictures. I'm right here! He doesn't even need the album! The guy sold it thinking he could buy a better album from Hotaru.

"Sorry. Price raise. 900 yen and 1000 for a strand of her hair in it." Hotaru said. Guys were rushing over and buying the albums and I was just heatedly glaring at Hotaru. But even so, all that matters to me is Natsume having my album. It makes me happy and weirded out at the same time, but oh well. I'm guessing he's happy he found out who I am because he smiled for the rest of the day and didn't ditch a single class.

After Classes

I was at my locker, pulling out my rollerblades when a guy in a black hoodie, dark blue jeans, and white sneakers grabbed my shoulders. I was about to elbow him in the stomach until I heard his voice.

"Hey." He said. I sighed in relief of not harming my boyfriend.

"I almost elbowed you because of that. At least call my name so that I don't immediately think you are a rapist." I said turning to him. He had his hood up and he was smirking at me as he caged me to the lockers. I could already see the scene. The innocent school girl with the two books in her hand and the guy caging her against the lockers.

"What's with the hood?" I asked with a smile.

"Well, I plan on giving you a ride home. If anybody spots you and me, there will be an uproar." He said.

"What if they recognize your car?" I asked.

"We're not going by car." He responded. I raised an eyebrow and suddenly I was lifted in his arms and couldn't help but laugh.

"You are so weird." I said as he began to carry me out of the school.

"No, I'm so happy." He said. I smiled brightly at him and leaned against his chest.

"I'm glad you are." I said. There was silence for a moment.

"You're heavy." He said stopping and putting me down.

"No, I'm not! Douche bag! You don't have to say that!" I said. I was busy ranting and didn't notice he got on the floor. When I did notice though, I immediately knew what to do. I crawled on his back.

"If you needed to carry me this way, you could have said so. I mean calling a girl heavy. It isn't the most gentlemanly thing to do." I ranted. He chuckled.

"Remind me never to mention your weight again. I haven't even heard my mother or sister talk this much when I said they were heavy. They simply tell me not to say that to girls." He said.

"Wow." I said. There was another silent moment. I took that time to just lean my head on the crook of his neck. So basically, my head was right beside his. I was getting comfortable. He is a very warm person.

"Mikan." He said. It snapped me out of my thoughts of his warmth.

"Uh huh." I responded.

"Why do you hide your looks from everybody? You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I don't know why you hide that." He said. I frowned a little.

"I have my reasons. I don't think I'll be telling you them now, though. There are a lot of things you might not know about me. I hope you can respect that." I said, glumly. We were in front of the door to the Koizumi's house.

"One of those things, by the way, is never look for me here. I have special reasons for that too. But if you are ever looking for me, even if I am in this house and you know it, never come. Wait until school the next day or something like that." I said. He raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"I love you. And please don't be mad at me because of all the mysteries and stuff. It's complicated and one of the reasons I didn't want you to know who I was." I said. He walked closer to me and gave my lips a gentle peck.

"No matter what the mysteries are, you're still my Cinderella." He said with a smirk on his face. I smiled and kissed him full on. I had to tip toe and he had to bend his head down a bit. He's a guy and I'm pretty short compared to him. I can't help it. His hands on my waist and my arms around his neck just felt so right, though. I really didn't want to let go. But then again, in order to be able to kiss my boyfriend, I'll have to be alive and separate to breathe when we kiss like that. We were smiling at each other when we separated and I was off the tips of my toes.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow." I said softly.

"See you." He said. He turned around and began walking away until I made a comment.

"By the way. I know you're so happy but don't try to rape me tomorrow!" I teased.

"You better watch out. When I see you leave the classroom to go to the bathroom, I'm gonna follow you in and rape you in the stalls. You know, it's always been one of my fantasies." He joked. I laughed and waited until he was completely off the perimeter before going around the house and to my shed. A day of happiness and then work.

Natsume's POV

I walked into the house and threw myself on the couch. My friends all stared at me but I didn't care.

"Dude, you've got like an uberly gay smile on your face." Koko said. I glared at him.

"Shut up." I said before putting my hands behind my head. I knew that the smile was on my face again, but I couldn't help it when I thought about Mikan.

"I noticed all the signs and did not even once think that it would be Mikan." I said. My friends raised their eyebrows this time.

"What signs? I didn't see any signs." Ruka said.

"You maybe didn't, but I did. I noticed that when her friends went to buy the pictures from Imai, she called them traitors. I noticed when she was walking slowly during class because of her ankle and that she was wearing hats even though she doesn't seem like a hat person. I noticed a lot of things." I said.

"Dude, why were you always paying attention to Sakura when you didn't know it was her, though?" Kitsuneme asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe because she was different and stayed away from us even though I sit in the seat right next to her and she never bothered us with anything at all." I said.

"Or maybe in your sub-conscious you knew it was her since she wasn't putting an effort in the auditions or anything but you, yourself, did not know." Ruka said. I nodded.

"Probably. I mean, there was no other reason for me to pay so much attention to her even though I didn't think she was my Cinderella." I said.

"Correction. You thought it in your sub-conscious. You didn't know she was your Cinderella, until she told you." Ruka said.

"This is the longest period of time I've ever seen you smile in my life, Hyuuga." Andou said.

"And I'm going to be making plenty of money from it." A voice said. We all snapped our heads to the voice and found Imai with a camera at hand taking pictures of us, but mostly me.

"Imai! What are you doing in this house?" I glared at her.

"Don't mind me. I didn't come here to take pictures of you. I just took the chance the opportunity gave me. But I'm here for other business." She said.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I'm your cousin. And I'm also Mikan's best friend. Mikan has a lot of secrets. I don't want you pressuring her or digging into them, alright. Cuz in the end, if you hurt her, cousin or not, I will kill you. My best friend will come before the cousin who broke her heart. And you know that I have many ways to hurt people. I might even just let her kill you. I mean, she specializes in swords. What's better than stabbing the person who broke your heart? Overall, I'm just saying not to pry and to make sure she stays as happy as she can be. When I met her as kids she was happier than this, not like she is now. Things happened, and you don't need to know about them until she tells you herself." She said. I raised an eyebrow.

"I just got her. Why in god's name would I break her heart?" I asked.

"You are the lead singer of a popular band. Girls throw themselves at you. If you wanted, you could have a hot blonde chick in your hands right now and they wouldn't mind. You can have a change of opinion any time. She's already trusted you enough in the time since she met you. Let's keep it that way." She said before walking away and out the front door. Though, she did not leave before giving Ruka a peck on the cheek which he blushed wholesomely about.

"Your cousin is scary." Mochu said.

"Hey!" Ruka said, defending her.

"And I thought you guys would know. Anybody and everybody who has the least bit of Hyuuga blood in them, is a person to be feared, even if they aren't always scary like me and Imai." I said.

"It's true." Kitsuneme and Koko said. Mochu was the last friend we gathered while Koko, Kitsuneme, and Ruka had been with me since kindergarten. Not to mention that I already knew Andou since first grade. I just never got around to saying his first name. That is why Mochu knows the least about my family.

"Even Aoi, his sister, can get pretty scary sometimes. Especially if you don't give her what she wants." Ruka said. We all nodded at Mochu.

"The day you meet his family will be crazy if you do anything to anger one of them." Andou said.

"Which will be soon actually. There is a family ball this weekend. My mom said I could invite my friends as

long as they behave and dress properly." I said.

"So will you be taking Mikan?" Ruka asked.

"If she accepts. I'm going to ask her tomorrow and see." I said.

"Hopefully she'll accept. I mean, if she didn't want school students to know her, what about your entire family and the press." Koko said.

"There will be no press. Many of my family members assure that. My branch of the family is holding it this year, which is why I'm allowed to invite friends. Though you guys will probably have to stick with me so that you don't get glares if you make a mistake." I said.

"Good luck to us all." Mochu said. They all nodded together. We decided we would leave early tomorrow to encounter our girlfriends at their lockers.


	6. Chapter 6

**Next Day**

**I noticed Mikan and her friends approaching their lockers once they were about to leave, we all grabbed them from behind.**

"**Ow! Fuck!" we all winced. We were on the floor rubbing our sore spots, looking at our girlfriends.**

"**Fuck. Sorry." Harada said. Our girlfriends all helped us off the floor.**

"**You guys said yourself that we were chick with arms. You're lucky we didn't pull out our weapons. And as a bonus, I personally told you, Natsume that you had to at least call my name before grabbing me like that. You better do it the next time, or we won't know what happens to you guys." Mikan said. I hugged her waist and pecked her cheek.**

"**You wouldn't hurt me." I said.**

"**Don't get too arrogant. If I don't know it's you, I will." She said. I held a hand to my heart and pretended to be hurt.**

"**Anyway, we have other business." Andou said.**

"**And that is?" Shoda asked.**

"**If you want to come to my family ball." I said.**

"**I don't know Natsume. I'm guessing you and your family is pretty famous especially with your band. I probably won't do well with press." Mikan said.**

"**No press at family balls. Our family despises them interrupting people while eating and dancing or talking so there will be practically be no press. The only press you'll probably find is me." Imai said.**

"**I guess it's alright then. You're sure there won't be any press?" Mikan asked, uneasily.**

"**Positive." I said. She sighed in relief.**

"**Alright. I'm going to have to get ready at your house though." she said.**

**Weekend Mikan's POV**

**I snuck out of the house and ran to Natsume, next door. I was wearing some normal clothes so that they wouldn't know I was the maid of the house next door. When I rang the bell, Natsume immediately opened up. He was wearing a tux with a red tie.**

"**My, don't you look dashing." I said. He chuckled.**

"**Yes, yes I do." he agreed. I pecked his cheek.**

"**Where do you want me to get ready?" I asked.**

"**All the girls are getting ready in their boyfriend's rooms. I imply since I am your boyfriend that you will be **

**doing the same." he answered. I nodded and headed up to his room. This time, I knew how to get my dress on and could do it all by myself, but first, I painted my nails and did my hair and makeup. The thing was that I needed help with tying myself up for the dress. I managed to work it out though, thank the lord I'm flexible. I walked out of Natsume room and down the staircase. My friends were already in the living room and Natsume was waiting for me at the end of the staircase. He took my hand and kissed it like last time.**

"**M'lady." he said**

"**Good sir." I giggled.**

"**What the hell?" Mochu asked.**

"**Insider joke." I responded.**

"**You look beautiful." Natsume said.**

"**Don't rape me." I said. He chuckled.**

"**Let's get going. The place is pretty far." Hotaru said. I nodded and we all got in the limo waiting for us outside. The ride was about an hour long and the limo parked indoors to assure that nobody outside would see us. We all got out and entered a ballroom with our partners, arms entwined. A man announced everybody who walked in.**

"**Young Master Yuu Tobita." he said.**

"**Young Master Kitsuneme Ling and Ms. Nonoko Ogasawara as his companion." he announced.**

"**Young Master Kokoro Yome and Ms. Anna Unemomiya as his companion." he continued.**

"**Young Master Mochiage and Ms. Sumire Shoda as his companion." **

"**Young Master Andou and Ms. Misaki Harada as his companion."**

"**Young Mistress Hotaru Imai and her companion, Ruka Nogi." **

"**Young Master Natsume Hyuuga and his companion, whose name will not be announced." he said.**

"**May I please remind you that there will be nothing published and no guests shall be mentioned outside of the family or in public. No press attention is wanted." the announcer finished. Natsume nodded to the announcer as thanks before we finished going down the grand staircase. Our friends were all at the bottom and two women approached us. Both of them looked just like Natsume except as female versions. One seemed to be about 14 and she had a short hair up to her shoulders, the same crimson eyes and raven black hair as Natsume. The other woman seemed like an adult still young and had Natsume's appearances.**

"**Natsume! For once you brought a partner! Please tell me who!" the both of the women said. Natsume looked to me in questioning.**

"**Who are they?" I asked gently to Natsume.**

"**Oh dear! How rude of me? I am Kaoru Hyuuga, Natsume's mom. Please call me Kaoru." the older woman said.**

"**And I'm Aoi Hyuuga. I'm his little sister! Just call me Aoi!" the younger girl said.**

"**I'm Mikan Sakura. Please don't let any word out about who I am." I said with a bow.**

"**Of course. So did my son hire you to come or did you actually come of your own will?" Kaoru asked.**

"**Actually, I'm his girlfriend." I muttered in embarrassment.**

"**Girlfriend?" Kaoru and Aoi yelled.**

"**Could you two keep it down? She doesn't really want her name spreading too much and here you are **

**yelling my relationship to her out loud." Natsume said. They both frowned, upset at their actions. I smiled.**

"**It's alright Natsume. Hotaru said that your family doesn't really like press, right? I doubt with the security they have here that anybody will let our relationship out. Plus, I trust Kaoru-san and Aoi-chan already. They are your immediate family after all." I said. Natsume smiled at me and pecked my cheek.**

"**Oh my gosh! Thank you! She's so nice! She wins the golden stamp of approval!" Kaoru-san and Aoi-chan yelled together in unison, hugging me tightly. It seemed to me like they were crying tears of joy.**

"**Haha, aren't you going to ruin your makeup?" I asked with a giggle.**

"**We don't care!" they said. Natsume pried them both off of me.**

"**Yeah, well. Keep your hands off my girlfriend. Mine and mine only." Natsume said as he wrapped his arm around my waist.**

"**Oooh, Aoi, he's possessive. This is serious." Kaoru-san said.**

"**Yes. But now we have to fix our makeup." Aoi-chan said. Nonoko and Anna approached.**

"**We can help you with that." they said in unison with sweet smiles.**

"**Who are you?" they asked kindly.**

"**I'm Nonoko Ogasawara. I'm also Kitsu-kun's girlfriend and another one of Mikan's friends." Nonoko said.**

"**I'm Anna Unemomiya. I'm also Koko's girlfriend and one of Mikan-chan's friends." Anna said.**

"**I'm a chemist and I've already formulated water-proof makeup." Nonoko said.**

"**And I'm a cook, but together with some herbs and Nonoko's abilities, we put together wipes that could make the makeup come off." Anna said.**

"**I'm Sumire Shoda, Mochu's girlfriend and another of Mikan's friends. I'm a pro at applying makeup. We all use the makeup that Nonoko and Anna said. They are also very healthy and don't give you acne because they are oil free and organic." Permy said. They, right there in the middle of the ballroom, got to work on both women. In less than 3 minutes they were done and they both looked gorgeous. They pulled out their compact mirrors and gasped.**

"**You and the band really picked out good girlfriends. My god!" Kaoru-san said to Natsume. All of us smiled.**

"**And they have great smiles." Aoi-chan said.**

"**Thank you." we all replied.**

"**Not to mention, they're dangerous too." Tsubasa-sempai said. I had begun to call him that, and he seemed very happy with it.**

"**Dangerous?" Aoi-chan asked.**

"**We all know a form of self defense and are skilled in a traditional weapon." Permy answered.**

"**I can use the spiked ball mace and am great in hand to hand combat." Misaki said.**

"**I use daggers and carry around a knife with me at all times." Permy said.**

"**We use nun chucks and we carry around tasers or stun guns." Anna and Nonoko said in unison.**

"**I am a skilled archer and you know I like to use guns of all kinds." Hotaru said.**

"**I sword fight and am rather talented in martial arts. But of course we only use these abilities as a manner of **

**self defense." I finished.**

"**And she's an acrobat. She can jumped down from higher than fifty feet and land on her feet or climb down a tree with a sprained ankle." Koko said, pointing at me. Everybody nodded.**

"**Wow. Superwomen with super beauty, and super smiles." Kaoru-san said. We thanked her for the compliment again.**

"**Well it seems to me like there are other guests to greet. Enjoy the night. I hope to see you again soon, Mikan-chan." Kaoru-san said.**

"**Who accompanied you, Aoi?" Hotaru asked. Aoi pulled somebody over to us. Beside her stood a boy with silver locks and teal eyes. He seemed familiar.**

"**This is Youichi Hijiri, my boyfriend." Aoi said.**

"**Aren't you a little too young to date?" Natsume asked with a raised eyebrow.**

"**She can date whenever she wants as long as doesn't do anything stupid." Hotaru said. They glared at each other for a second.**

"**Have I seen you somewhere before?" I asked Hijiri-san.**

"**I was just wondering. You seem familiar too." he replied. I stood and thought for a bit before snapping my fingers.**

"**You-chan!" I said.**

"**You're that girl I called nee-chan!" he said.**

"**Nee-chan?" Natsume asked.**

"**He's not really my brother, but when I was a kid and he was still young, I found him crying in the park. He had nobody to play with so I played with him everyday that summer. He started calling me nee-chan until he had to move. How have you been, You-chan?" I explained.**

"**Fine. I didn't expect you to ever meet Natsume-nii." he said.**

"**Nii?" I asked.**

"**I've always called him Natsume-nii cuz I looked up to him. He just didn't know I started dating his sister **

**until now." You-chan explained. Natsume ruffled his hair.**

"**It doesn't matter. I know you'll take care of her. But be on your guard. She's an instable creature, rather bipolar that buriko." Natsume said. The two chuckled while Aoi pouted before stepping on Natsume's foot **

**and punching Youichi upside the head. I giggled.**

"**How could you laugh when you're boyfriend just got hurt?" Natsume asked.**

"**Awww. My baby has a boo boo." I teased before pecking his cheek.**

"**Enough mush. Let's go dance." Hotaru said. We danced and talked the night away.**


	7. Chapter 7

Next Day

Hotaru wasn't at the lockers when I arrived at school and wasn't there when Narumi called free period. Even Misaki was there with us in class. Mid class, Hotaru slammed the door open. She stomped towards us.

"We have a huge problem." she said hurriedly. This is serious if it caused Hotaru Imai to be late to school.

"What is it? You look like a mess. Look at your hair." I said, scanning her as she panted heavily and her clothes and hair was all disarrayed. She slammed a newspaper onto the table. My eyes widened at the picture. There was Natsume pecking my cheek from the family ball. Oh my god!

"Crimson Abyss and Cinderella pictures if you can run to the mall and back first!" Hotaru yelled.

Everybody rushed out but our friends.

"Hotaru babe, what's wrong?" Ruka asked as he and the band approached. We made way for them.

"This is what's wrong!" she yelled nervously. They all gasped at the picture and headline.

"Seems like the Crimson Abyss leader and Hyuuga heir has a girlfriend." was the headline. We opened to the page. They skipped the table of contents for this because it was right on the back of the cover. There were various pictures of me and Natsume. And then it said a sub title.

"All of Crimson Abyss is taken!" it said. Afterwards was pictures of each of us. And this wasn't a masquerade. Our faces were clearly visible in each picture.

"They're everywhere! I was passing a newsstand and they had tons of them. I had to buy the entire supply and snatch them from people on the street! They are literally in every store! Even toy stores!" she yelled. You could tell she frustrated and anxious. Natsume pulled out his cell phone but before he could dial anything we heard a shrill shriek from miles away.

"I don't think the mall was the best place to send them." Koko said. Oh my gosh. If Luna and Serah see that, they'll cut my head off or throw me out of the house or something worse. Natsume dialed and put the phone on speaker.

"_Hello?" I heard Kaoru-san's voice._

"_Mom, have you seen the newspaper today?" Natsume asked._

"_No, why honey?" she asked._

"_Cuz Mikan and I are all over it, and so it the rest of Crimson Abyss and Mikan's friends." he said._

"_WHAT?" she screamed into the phone._

"_Mom, I need you to find out who took those pictures and track them down. And now, me and my friends have to buy every single stack of newspapers. They're even in toy stores mom! They are literally everywhere! Get some butlers and family members out there." he said._

"_I'm on it! Aoi!" she yelled before hanging up._

"We need to go." Natsume said. We all nodded and ran out of the school. We ran all over the town picking up newspapers with our boyfriends' credit and debit cards. We didn't even go in pairs. That is how much area we needed to cover! The only one who wasn't ambushed by press and fans was me because I still had my get up on, that was until Serah and Luna found me…

Next Day Natsume's POV

All of Mikan's friends walked in. The minute they stepped in all of our fangirls were surrounding them.

"Backup or I'll annihilate each and every one of you!" Imai growled. They walked up to our desks. Since the cat was out of bag, there was no reason to pretend that they didn't care about us anymore. I was in a dark mood too. There was so much talk now that Mikan probably didn't even go to school because she was trapped inside from all the paparazzi.

"We've got to go down to the newspaper office. The head is refusing to answer any questions from the police officers but we both know that we can be much scarier people than the police." Imai said. We nodded and all headed down to the newspaper office. He was sitting in the middle of his little private office. We all stood there surrounding his desk. He didn't even look up from his papers at our entrance.

"What do you want? I'm busy." he said. That disrespectful little…

"We want to know who took the pictures at the Hyuuga family ball." Unemomiya said with no kindness in her voice.

"It's anonymous. I'm not telling you." he said, still no looking up at us.

"You better tell us now or bad things will happen." all of Mikan's friends said, even Tobita. And by the looks on their face, they weren't playing. He looked up at them.

"Listen, you can't threaten me." he said.

"Maybe they can't, but we can." I growled, glaring harshly at him.

"So, we recommend that you tell us who handed you that picture and article." Imai said.

"No." he said slowly, as if we were idiots. That ticked both me and Imai off to a large extreme. We both slammed our hands on the desk.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Imai yelled.

"We'll have this newspaper company shut down with the press of a button!" I yelled. He jumped at the impact on the desk and our voices. Harada put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you know that I've taken a whole gang by myself? Experienced fighters." she said warning.

"I have a knife strapped to my thigh right now." Shoda said.

"We have stun guns in our purses." Ogasawara and Unemomiya said.

"And I have a fucking gun on me." Imai said. The man was shivering by now.

"I can't tell you." he stuttered. I slammed the table again and neared my face towards him before yelling in his face.

"Damn it, do you want to die? Because if they don't do it, I'll certainly do the honors! I don't care whether I'm from a famous band or heir to a huge company, I'll kill you if I have to, to get the name out of you!" I yelled.

"Alright! His name is Takashi Sami!" he yelled, cowering. Imai was already on her phone.

"Aoi, contact every family member that attended the ball last night and ask if they know a Takashi Sami. And also, get the surveillance footage from the hall last night." Imai said before listening for another few seconds and snapping her phone shut.

"I'll kill the man." I growled. Before we left the office, I had to get some anger out and threw the guy's desk to the wall before leaving.

"Fucking douche. We should have killed him too." Harada said.

A Week Later Lunch

We now shared a table with Mikan's group.

"Mikan's been out for a week. I'm starting to get worried." Anna said.

"Yeah, me too." I muttered, rubbing my face with my hand. I started losing sleep after the third day because we had already stopped all publications.

"Wait, but she can't be trapped because of press." Ruka said.

"Why not?" Mochu asked.

"Because she was wearing her disguise at all times after the ball. The press couldn't possibly recognize her as your girlfriend!" Ogasawara stated in realization. Then all of Mikan's friends turned to each other with wide eyes.

"That means it's them…" Imai growled. All of her friends had looks of fury on now.

"Who is them? I'll kill them!" I said.

"You know how Mikan didn't want you to know her secret?" Harada said. I nodded.

"Whether she likes it or not, it's about time you guys know. We'll be at your house around five thirty. Be absolutely ready to take in everything I have to tell you." Imai said. The band and I nodded right before he bell rang and we had to go to class.

Five Thirty Crimson Abyss House

Mikan's friends were all there sharp.

"Sit." Imai said immediately upon entering. All of the band and I, sat on the couch. Mikan's friends all stood in a line directly in front of us but a few feet away.

"Mikan's secret starts from when she was young." Imai started.

"When Mikan was born, her mother died." Unemomiya said.

"She lived with only her father until he remarried because he felt Mikan needed a motherly figure." Ogasawara said.

"Mikan's father died of cancer and she was left with her step mother and two step sisters." Tobita said.

"Serina, Luna, and Serah Koizumi." Harada growled.

"They made her their maid. She cooks, cleans, shops, everything. But nothing she does is for herself. They treat her like shit. She lives in their shed. And she can't step into the house without shoes because they think she is filthy. She has to run and get their lattes every morning and if they run out of hygienical products, it was Mikan's fault because she is always supposed to have backup and keep an eye on them. She even has to do their homework and paperwork. As if they aren't already dumb bitches, but they could do their own work! She's glad that she goes to a school with a uniform, because she doesn't have much clothes." Shoda said.

"And she can't do a single shit about it because they'll kick her out of the house if she does." Imai growled.

"Can't she live with one of you guys? Doesn't she have any relatives?" Ruka asked.

"That house is the only thing she has left of her parents. She won't give it up for the world. They took her room and don't treat her anything like family." Imai said.

"What are we going to do? I refuse to let her stay with that family!" I said.

"I already have a plan. Yuu is gonna stay here and from my laptop, he will check the school database. Since Gakuen Alice is an escalator school that means, her dad is the one who picked her emergency guardian. While he does that, we're gonna infiltrate the house. That will be Yuu's other job, to keep us out of sight as we look around the house for Mikan. For all we know, they've already kicked her out. But we're sticking together, because we don't want anybody trapped alone. If anything, the diversion is Ruka." Imai explained.

"Why me? I'm your boyfriend!" Ruka asked, stunned at her choice of diversion.

"Because they know I'll kill them if they lay a hand on you." Imai said with a smirk.

"No mush until we find Mikan." I said. Imai began distributing headsets.

"We all need to be able to hear Yuu in case we get separated." Imai said.

"How are you gonna get cameras into the place, though?" Kitsuneme asked.

"Please, I'm going to be the world's best nanotechnologist. I have mini cameras in the forms of bugs infiltrating the house right now." she responded. She handed Yuu her laptop and loaded everything he would need. She placed little trackers on each of us.

"How are we gonna get in?" Andou asked once we were out of the house.

"Serina's balcony." Harada answered. We jumped over the fence and it left us right in front of the balcony.

"I hope you guys know how to climb a pole." Imai said. She pulled out a little cylinder that with the press of a button turned into a long pole. She leaned it on the balcony and the end of it wrapped itself around one railings while the bottom of the pole plunged spikes into the ground.

"My girlfriend is a genius." Ruka said proudly, pecking Imai on the cheek.

"After we find Mikan." I said, climbing the pole first. The sliding doors were covered by curtains.

"Yuu." Imai whispered, turning on the mic.

"_She's in there. Don't get in yet. Just set up the lock breaker." he replied. _Imai placed a contraption on the handle of the balcony.

"_She's heading into the bathroom, you have to move fast." Yuu said after a minute or two. _Imai pressed a button and the lock immediately fell off. We walked across the room quickly and stood against the door.

"Clear?" I asked.

"_Yes, hurry before she finishes." Yuu said. _We searched the entire house.

"She's not even in her shed." Umenomiya said as we stood in there, relaxed because we knew they would never step foot in here.

"This is off. Did you notice how the only witch in the house is Serina and Mikan isn't anywhere to be found?" Imai asked. We all nodded.

"Yuu, check all surveillance tapes. And give us a briefing on what you've found out from the school files." Imai said.

"_It's actually quite interesting. Mikan's uncle is Kazu Yukihara, the high school principal. He is currently managing Yukihara Corp. in place of his brother, Mikan's father. I'm guessing that's how they got the mansion. I did some extended research. Yukihara Corp. began in Japan, but after the death of Mikan's dad, it was moved to America to keep things from the Japanese press." Yuu said._

"So Mikan's actually an heiress. Did you find her in any cameras?" Imai said.

"Hold on." he said. All you could hear clicking and typing.

"_Found her! She's in the den and you better get there fast! I think she's having an asthma attack and the witches have her inhaler!" he yelled into the mic. _We were out of that door faster than you could say bonzai.

"Which way Tobita? Which way?" I asked, urgently.

"_In the backyard through the doors under the deck." he said. _Imai and I were leading. I kicked straight through those doors and ran down. I went up to Mikan, wheezing on the ground. There were tears leaking from her eyes and she was red in the face.

"Give me the inhaler now." Imai said.

"No." Luna said.

"Give it to her!" I yelled.

"Only if you'll be our boyfriend." Serah said.

"This isn't a game. Give her the inhaler!" I yelled. In seconds, Imai shot both of them with her baka gun, effectively knocking them out, and grabbed the inhaler. She handed it to Mikan and she began pumping the inhaler for some breath.

"Where's Mikan?" we heard. Our friends had just arrived. Once they saw Serah and Luna knocked out they heaved a sigh of relief.

"_The police and the high school principal should be arriving soon. I've also alerted Kaoru-san and she has alerted her lawyer. I'll be heading there right now." Tobita said. _Since Mikan was still weak, I carried her into the house. Tobita had the door open for us and in five or ten minutes everybody was there.

"Mikan?" we heard as Mikan was explaining everything to the police softly. We turned to the voice and saw the high school principal.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, confused at his appearance.

"The high school principal is actually your uncle. And you are heiress to a giant company in America." Imai said.

"Are you? Kazu-ojii?" Mikan asked. He nodded slowly.

"Mikan, I am so sorry that I did not check on you. I should have! I didn't know that she was treating you this way!" he said.

"It's alright. It's not your fault. The only thing that matters now is that everything's alright." she said. My mom's lawyer stepped forward.

"I have been filled in on your duties around the house, but nobody knows what happened in the week you were trapped here. I need this information for the trial." he said. Mikan's eyes dulled and she didn't seem to want to speak.

"Mikan, you have to tell us what they did." I said, softly.

"They didn't give me food and they pulled on my hair and beat me. They made me sleep in the den without any covers or pillow. They were just plain cruel." she said with a shiver. I hugged her.

"I won't let anything else happen to you. And they won't be getting out of jail anytime soon." I said.

"I'm sorry to say this, but the two girls can't go to jail forever because they are minors. But we will put them in juvenile prison for a while and then have them on probation afterwards." the police said. Mikan nodded. Everybody left but our friends and the high school principal.

"Mikan, you are welcome to stay with me if you'd like." the high school principal said.

"No thank you. I'd rather stay in this house…with the memories of mom and dad." she said. He nodded before approaching me.

"You said you wouldn't let anything happen to her. I'm holding you to that word." he said to me.

"Yes sir." I said.

"Mikan, I just want to know if you'd like to inherit your father's company when you turn eighteen. I've been running it for him, but it's rightfully yours. And I'm sure I could teach you or your friends could teach you in two years or more." he said.

"I'll take it over. And I'd be glad to learn anything that could help me." she said. He nodded once again before leaving. Mikan turned to us.

"Thank you everybody…for everything." she said. Then she looked to me.

"I guess Cinderella was more literal than you thought." she said.


End file.
